April 19, 2018
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State baseball looks to halt Michigan's 17-game winning streak when it returns to the road for a three-game Big Ten series starting Friday at 4 p.m. in Ray Fisher Stadium. The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
Essentials
Live Video: N/A
Live Audio: GoPSUsports.com
Live Stats: MGoBlue.com
TV: N/A
Radio: State College's ESPN Radio 1450 (Fri., Sun.), WRSC 1390 (Sat.)
Series History: Penn State, 48-46
Last Series: Michigan, 3-0 (2017)
Streak: L5
Friday Probables
PSU RHP Justin Hagenman (2-4, 2.92 ERA)
U-M LHP Tommy Henry (6-0, 2.72 ERA)
Saturday Probables
PSU LHP Dante Biasi (1-5, 7.03 ERA)
U-M LHP Ben Dragani (4-0, 1.38 ERA)
Sunday Probables
PSU TBD
U-M RHP Karl Kauffmann (4-2, 3.00 ERA)
Streak Busters
Michigan is on a 17-game winning streak, but Penn State has faced a similarly hot Big Ten team in recent memory, nearly halting an Illinois winning streak at 15 in 2015 before it eventually extended to 27.
Penn State and then-No. 8 Illinois battled for 15 innings before the Fighting Illini eventually prevailed for a 4-2 victory and its 16th-straight win. It was the only extra inning game Illinois had during the streak.
Streak Busted
The Nittany Lions halted an 11-game skid Wednesday with a 7-2 win over Mount St. Mary's.
Penn State is now seeking to end a nine-game Big Ten skid. Its lone Big Ten win came at Rutgers in its lone true Big Ten road series of the season prior to this weekend.
Hagenman Leads Rotation
Junior RHP Justin Hagenman continues to lead the Penn State pitching rotation and is among the leaders in the Big Ten in ERA (2.92, t-8th), innings pitched (52.1, 10th) and strikeouts (49, t-7th).
Hagenman is particularly adept at striking out hitters looking, as he ranks second in the conference with 25 backwards K's.
Hagenman is 2-4 on the season in eight starts, leaving with the lead twice and in a tie game once in three no decisions. Two of his losses have come when Penn State scored one or fewer runs.
All-Time vs. Michigan
After meeting for the first time in 1909, Penn State holds a slight 48-46 advantage over Michigan in the all-time series, and the teams will meet in Ann Arbor where the Nittany Lions hold a 25-21 series lead. However, Michigan has won eight of the last nine meetings, including the last five, and has won the last six in Ann Arbor.
Scouting the Wolverines
Michigan is riding a 17-game winning streak, which is the second-longest active winning streak in NCAA Division I baseball (Tennessee Tech, 21). The Wolverines struggled out of the gate after losing 15 (11 draft picks) from its 2017 team, starting 4-11, but have improved to 21-11 and are 8-0 in Big Ten play, earning a No. 11 ranking from Collegiate Baseball. All three of Michigan's starting pitchers are ranked in the top 10 in the conference for ERA, while the staff ranks 23rd in the NCAA and second in the Big Ten with an ERA of 3.29. Jonathan Engelmann ranks 11th in the Big Ten with a .344 batting average while Jesse Franklin ranks fourth in the league with a .623 slugging percentage.
One-Run Series Openers
In nine weekend Penn State series, the opener has been decided by one run six times, with the Lions going 2-4 in those games.
Most recently, Penn State dropped the opener against Ohio State (4/13), yielding an unearned run in a 1-0 loss.
Minnesota (4/6-7) rallied in the sixth inning of a game suspended due to weather from the previous day in an eventual 7-6 win. Penn State was leading 5-4 when the game was suspended after five innings.
Purdue (3/30) scored three runs in the first three innings and made the lead last in a 3-2 win.
Shea Sbranti drove in a pair of runs as Penn State defeated NJIT, 4-3 (3/17).
UMBC (2/23) rallied with a solo home run in the seventh inning for a 2-1 win.
Penn State defeated Elon, 2-1, in the season opener.
Tight Games
Approximately 43 percent of Penn State's games this season (13 of 30) have been decided by one run, with Penn State going 4-9 in those 13 games.
Penn State's 13 one-run games are its most since playing in 14 one-run games in 2012.
Penn State's nine one-run losses are its most since 2011.
Four of Penn State's seven wins have been by one run, and all (six) but one have been decided by two runs or less. RHPs Eric Mock and Mason Mellott have three saves each.
Sixteen of Penn State's 30 games played this season have been decided by two runs or less. Penn State is 6-10 in those games.
Bats Come Alive
Penn State totaled 11 hits Wednesday against Mount St. Mary's for its most hits since totaling 13 in a win over Rutgers on Mar. 25.
The Nittany Lions have now posted double-digit hits in back-to-back games (Ohio State, 10) for the second time this season and the first time since its spring break trip at Grand Canyon.
The Mount St. Mary's game was highlighted by a six-run second inning - which represented the most runs scored in an inning by Penn State since a seven-run frame in the second game of the season at Elon.
Hitting Leaders
Jordan Bowersox is Penn State's hottest-hitter with hits in eight of the last 10 games for an average of .317 (13-for-41). The stretch includes two three-hit games, including a 3-for-3 performance that included a walk and double in the series opener against Ohio State on Friday, and a home run against West Virginia in PNC Park.
Ryan Sloniger has three multi-hit games in his last five outings, highlighted by a 3-for-5 effort against West Virginia in PNC Park and a triple as part of a 2-for-3 game against Ohio State Saturday. He owns the team's longest active reached base streak at five games.
Hendershot, Goodnight Heat Up
Freshman Parker Hendershot and sophomore Logan Goodnight joined usual suspects Ryan Sloniger and Jordan Bowersox with hot bats in recent games.
Hendershot tallied a hit in the PNC Park game against West Virginia and in the Ohio State series opener, and then enjoyed a career day in the finale by reaching base four times with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate and a walk. He drove in two runs and scored two runs.
Hendershot followed up the Ohio State effort against Mount St. Mary's by posting his fourth multi-hit game of the year and first in back-to-back games. Both of Hendershot's hits against The Mount came in the second inning and included a double, run and RBI.
Goodnight went 5-for-12 in the Ohio State series, adding a walk with a double and a run scored. He tallied a hit in all three games of the series to match his career-long hitting streak, and posted back-to-back multi-hit games for the first time in his career with two two-hit games to open the series. Goodnight also reached best against West Virginia and owns the team's longest active reached base streak at four games.
Slugging Sloniger
Catcher Ryan Sloniger had a hit in 17 of the first 19 games this season and leads the team with a .288 batting average. He has started all but three games behind the plate this season, including the first 18-straight, and started the first 29 consecutive games of the season overall with 28 starts at catcher and one at designated hitter.
Sloniger's three home runs, eight doubles and 21 RBIs surpass his 2017 totals of one home run, four doubles and seven RBIs. He had two career home runs, 10 doubles and 24 RBIs in 78 games played over his first two seasons.
Sloniger opened the season on a nine-game hitting streak. It was the longest hitting streak to start a season since Jim Haley tallied at least one hit in the first 10 games of 2016 and it remains the longest hitting streak by a Nittany Lion this season.
Record Watch
A trio of Nittany Lions are making their mark on the program's career records list.
Junior catcher Ryan Sloniger ranks ninth all-time at Penn State with 669 putouts. He is trailing Todd Stoner, who totaled 871, (1986-89) for eighth.
Junior pitcher Justin Hagenman is tied for seventh all-time with 37 career starts with Clayton Hamilton (2000-04) and Aaron Tressler (2001-04). His next start will tie him for sixth with Steven Hill (2010-12) with 38 starts.
Senior LHP Taylor Lehman is on track to become the only Nittany Lion pitcher to rank on both the Penn State career appearances and career starts top-10 lists.
With 61 career appearances, Lehman is two shy of tying Pete Yodis (1998-01) for 10th all-time at Penn State, while with 35 starts, he is two starts short of tying both Mike Bellaman (1982-85) and Nick Hedge (2013-16) for 10th.
Yodis currently is Penn State's career starts record holder with 53 starts, but would be bumped from the Top 10 in appearances after three more Lehman appearances.
See Record Watch on Page 9
Multiple Multiple-Hit Games
Connor Klemann leads Penn State with eight multi-hit games.
Klemann posted his second three-hit game of the season Wednesday against Mount St. Mary's, going 3-for-5 with his first career triple.
Freshmen On the Mound
Freshman RHP Bailey Dees made his second career start Wednesday and earned his first career win.
Dees is one of four freshmen to draw starts on the mound along with Dante Biasi (8), Conor Larkin (2) and Jeff Taylor (1).
Dees' start will marked the 12th game out of 30 started by a freshman for Penn State.
Ironmen
Penn State has two position players that have started and played in every game this season: Connor Klemann and Jordan Bowersox.
Braxton Giavedoni had a consecutive games played streak of 50 that ended when he did not appear in the Mount St. Mary's game.